Forgotten subscriptions: audit and cancel

New law: January 2027 (brought forward from spring 2027) [source: Government announcement Aug 2026, reported by TLT LLP; earlier GOV.UK response said spring 2027]. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will require clearer pre-contract info, reminders before free trials and long contracts renew, cooling-off rights and easy cancellation. Secondary legislation still pending; date could change.

Bank statements

  1. Download the last 3 months of statements (PDF or CSV) from your app.
  2. Search for words like 'subscription', 'monthly', '.com', 'prime', 'plus', 'premium'.
  3. Highlight every repeating payment and note the date and amount.
  4. Many banking apps let you block a merchant or list 'regular payments' – check your app's help pages.

Direct Debits (online banking)

  1. Open your banking app → Payments → Direct Debits (wording varies).
  2. Cancel ones you don't recognise or no longer need – also tell the company, as you may still owe under contract.
  3. If a Direct Debit was taken in error, the Direct Debit Guarantee gives you an immediate refund from your bank.
Official help ↗

Apple (iPhone/iPad)

  1. Settings → your name → Subscriptions.
  2. Tap a subscription → Cancel Subscription.
Official help ↗

Google Play (Android)

  1. Open Play Store → profile icon → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions.
  2. Choose the subscription → Cancel subscription.
Official help ↗

PayPal

  1. Log in → Settings (cog) → Payments → Manage automatic payments.
  2. Select the merchant → Cancel.
Official help ↗

Card continuous payments

  1. Under the Payment Services Regulations you can ask your card provider to stop a continuous payment authority – the bank must stop it if you ask.
  2. Still cancel with the merchant to avoid disputes.

Quick audit tally

Add each monthly subscription you find: